Here's what we know about Android 5.1 right now

Only, the exciting part according to most folks has little to do with the two different phones being launched. Instead, it has been pointed out that these phones have Android 5.1 in the version number field of their settings panel. There are a few obvious questions that follow something like this.

What is in this new version of Android?

If I already got an update to Android 5.0, 5.0.1, or 5.0.2 will I get an update to 5.1 soon?

Will Android 5.1 make my next order of tacos arrive faster?

If my device was promised an update to Android 5.0.2 but that hasn't happened yet, will I instead be upgraded straight to Android 5.1?

Why didn't Nexus devices get the update to Android 5.1 first?

Seriously though, about my tacos...

Here's the deal — we don't know. No one actually knows. Google hasn't announced Android 5.1 anywhere, including in the announcement for these two Android One devices. When asked for commentary, Google opted to remain quiet about things for the moment. There's a good chance Google has an official announcement planned, complete with things like changelogs and any new features that will show up. You can probably stop hammering the update button on your device for now, and we will all know more when Google opens the doors and speaks up.

Reader comments

Here's what we know about Android 5.1 right now

I don't no why you guy's are making a big deal about lollipop.I know it's not what everyone expect it to be and I also know that lots of people waited for it to come and there is still some that are waiting like me since Samsung is skipping 5.0 and going to 5.1 for the galaxy note 4 and the edge bUT they are trying their best.they made the lollipop 5.0 and since it has bugs they have to fix it you know how hard is that so stop complaining about it and consider that they are trying their best their human too.

Slow news, right Android Central? These are the sort of posts that are making me skip this blog more often than not, a really attention-seeking headline to then say in a nutshell: "We don't know anymore than you all do already"... then why bother writing an article at all? Same with those how-to articles: "How to turn on your phone! 86 methods!!"... those leave me asking: "Apple, is that you?"

These comments pretty much point out everything that's wrong with Android news these days. And that a lot of folks really don't understand a lot about this ol' publishing business.

Y'all wanna go read sites that specialize in reposting app changelogs and website differentials and make wild-ass guesses about shit that's wrong half the time? Be my guest. I hired Russell and Jerry and Alex and Andrew and that other guy to do other things. And they prove their worth day after day after day.

Fact is Android 5.1 will be announced when it's announced. Until then, it ain't nothing but a number. Period.

Right, it ain't nothing but a number, and a "news" article about nothing but a number ain't a news article. Can't marginalize one and stick up for the other, sorry. The article was pointless, plain and simple, and by your admission that there is nothing to 5.1 now, there should have been nothing published about it. Period. How can you defend such journalism otherwise?

I agree with MetalMike. I'm not looking for wild-ass guesses based on stuff just pulled out of the air. But I am also not looking for articles headlined like they will present valuable information, only to go into the article to find exactly the opposite. The criticism of it being click-baity is perfectly valid here. If that is the way you want to do things, then fine, obviously I can't change it. But that is my strong opinion on articles like this. If nothing is known, and you want to post an article to clear up that nothing is really known about 5.1, then don't headline it like we have valuable info waiting to be shared.

Never said I was gonna nominate it for a Pulitzer. But neither is anyone gonna get fired over it, ya know?

Nor did I, in fact, weigh in on the story at all, for that matter, except to say that Android 5.1 isn't official, and it's not official until it's official. If I have feedback for any one of our writers, I'll give it to them privately. Just like I'd expect them to do for me.

Regardless, I've moved on to other things. Clash of Clans servers are down this morning! :)

We've got to face facts. This site isn't the one we all came to read and respect. This site is now about one thing and one thing only, monetizing the credibility that Android Central had built over time. It is blatant and it is embarrassing. No more "real" news...instead we get click through articles that promise facts, but deliver only snarky commentary. I wonder how many seconds it took for Russell to smugly post this click bait. I am betting on "not many". But I am sure that the title alone will drive the page count up, which apparently is all that matters here anymore.

I've been a long time reader here. Each day I am disappointed by the lack of real news, real criticism, real insight. Each day I peruse the headlines, looking for something solid to inform me. Mostly I get How-To articles that are embarrassing to all but the most naive uninitiated.

I guess what I need from an Android-Centric blog isn't what I get here anymore, and that is depressing. Such a waste.

Here's the NEWS Monica's, I have a smartphone that I'm using as a media device that's running ice cream sandwich, all apps have current updates expect Google Now. Everything else is completely up to date. You DON'T need to accept this lollipop update anytime soon. My daily driver is running 4.4 and running flawless.

I'd wager a very small amount of money that we don't actually see Android 5.1 hit anything other than these One phones. I'm guessing their primary purpose was to optimize the OS for their low specs, and any other feature changes, bug fixes, etc. are because those were already merged into the main code anyway. I think 5.1 may be the equivalent of Honeycomb in that it never reaches anything other than a specific class of device. I think for Nexus, and future phones, we may be waiting for at LEAST a 5.1.1, if not a 5.2.

But I'm pretty open to being wrong on this one. It's mostly just a gut instinct.

Well, your post is more insightful than the actual article as it at least frames a point for discussion. My only concern if your hypothesis is true it that Android has gone and forked its own operating system, and that would not be a good thing.

It doesn't require forking at all, in the same way Honeycomb wasn't a fork. It was just a focused version which then had its functionality rolled into the next major release that brought phones and tablets back together. I suspect this is far, far simpler than that. But every version has to be specifically built for a specific device, and my guess is they're not read to do so for the Nexus line as they probably have more changes to institute before they want to update those. These changes, alone, probably mostly don't apply, making it silly to push without a better reason.

I'd bet the early-2015 update to allow WiFi calling on T-Mobile is the same update that will include all of this, probably more, and take us to a newer, post-5.1 version.

All I care about is whether or not a simple, easy to use Silent Mode is added back. If not, I give up on Android. I will suffer with Apple's closed system to have a phone with an operating system that is useable in a business environment.

If your definition of "usable in a business environment" means it has the silence setting, then you are out of luck currently.

But the general bugs have been a a grossly exaggerated by the Internet so far. I am on the release version on my moto x and the only bugs to speak of are occasional home screen redraws and Google services background tasks crashing if I go more than a couple of days without a restart. Lollipop has had the most stable release version of any version of Android I have seen. I expected a buggy mess, but instead got as near flawless software as we ever get on a mobile platform. Much better than the first several versions of IOS 8.

Depends on what they add / change. If they put VoIP for LTE in there and bake in Wifi calling, maybe that's why it's a .1 and why it took so long? I surely hope so. Either way, there were a lot of bugs, and maybe they want to get this right.

I'm not sure I believe that, given there's been no announcement of any sort and no indication of what, if any, issues will be resolved in the next update. Hell, 5.1 could possibly be ONLY for Anrdoid One phones, and other devices may have to wait for a 5.2 update to come at some unspecified date.

Agreed. The fact a buggy as hell beta is starting to be trickled out by Samsung and the carriers is troubling to me. I would imagine the complaints about Lollipop are going to explode as more and more Samsung and HTC phones are upgraded knowing it will be months, if ever, before any fix is implemented.

Ha . . . well iOS owners. I also own a Nexus 6 but I rarely use it cause it sucks compared to the iPhone 6+. I do, however, use all google apps on my iPhone and look forward to google calendar and hopefully google contacts coming to iOS.

Nah the iPhone is the best Google phone money can buy. I have a Nexus 6 but I rarely use it. The iPhone 6+ is a much better experience than any android phone including the Nexus 6. However, Google is the king of the roost when it comes to apps. I do not want to be stuck in the apple ecosystem with their sub-par apps that only get updated every major os upgrade.

It would have been more entertaining if the headline was "Here's what we know about Android 5.1 right now" and linked to a completely blank page. Seriously, AC, this was a total fail.

Or hell, give a more accurate headline to start with instead of this clickbait that implies that actual information will follow. Maybe something like: "We don't know anything about Android 5.1, but please click this link"

Seriously google imo has been terrible here. We know Android 5.1 is real, they have basically started selling phones with it yet they don't say a word about it or anything. The whole lollipop thing has been pathetic.

They know that Lollipop has been a bit of a failure and that's why they're staying quiet on this one. They promised so much and all that we've gotten is a couple new features, new bugs and half-assed material design.. Big Whoop!

They still haven't really done anything with the Camera2 api they were boasting about..

I'm gonna have to enter here and politely disagree with Taz89 and John-Smith.

I agree on the comments here that Google is pretty lame in terms of customer service communication, but....

Every major release (meaning there were a lot of deep changes on it) of most operational system come with extra bugs that get smoothed out with time. It's not a Google thing. Quite a few of the bigger Mac OS X releases were like that, iOS 7 was much worse, Window 8 is still a laugh, Android 3.x was a dead fish. And I, from a developer perspective, wouldn't expect this time to be any different.

There is a lot of great cool technologies backed in the OS and new APIs mentioned on Google I/O are all there (notifications, task management, 64 bit support, open GL 3.1, media controller, the new Bluetooth LE and simultaneous connectivity), the new user facing features showed or featured during Google I/O are there (there aren't as many as new APIs) and the new design language is there. All of it fully implemented. Nothing half baked.

The camera2 API, is all in there too and it is a SERIOUS great new API worth boasting about, but that's all it is, an APPLICATION PROGRAM INTERFACE. That it's meant of other developers to interface with the system and code their own applications. They never promised or even mention that they would be directly using it. (and just FYI, they use it in their on Camera app for the HDR mode).

And considering that there's a complete new rendering thread stack and a complete new re-wrote from the ground up low level virtual machine and Java pre-compiler (that's the ART), wow, I'm actually impressed how little bugs this thing have.

So all said, I don't agree the situation or the system as a `big failure`, `half assed` or `pathetic`. But I think a lot of power users tend to read all those read lines and keynote shows and think that suddenly their old phone will make their tacos arrive faster and get disappointed and complain online when they found that it's just a software release.

+1. I'll bet most of the folks with complaints about Lollipop haven't even used a Nexus 6 or 9 as a daily driver. While I have the same complaints as most about notifications and volume control, I can easily say this is the best version of Android by far.

I'm more annoyed about the lack of communication than bugs. I understand all os's will always have bugs but seems like google have been slow to even fix. Number one seems to be the memory leak which should have been fixed in 5.0.1 or at least 5.0.2 but nothing.